Nokia CEO Will Attend MWC Next Year; To Launch 2 Android Phones In Early 2017?

HMD Global acquired the rights to manufacture Nokia-branded smartphones from Microsoft earlier this year and has since partnered with Nokia. The company is expected to release some Android-powered Nokia handsets for the remainder of 2016, and now it’s been revealed that it will be launching two more in 2017.

James Rutherfoord, Microsoft Asia-Pacific CEO of mobile device commodities, was recently quoted by a Vietnamese publication stating that HMD Global will be launching two phones during Q4 2016 and "at least two" more during Q2 2017, according to Nokia Power User. HMD Global acquired the Nokia brand back in May and now owns the the rights to the brand for 10 years.

The smartphones being released this year is believed to be the Nokia P1, an Android 7.0 Nougat smartphone that comes with a 2K display and 5.2- and 5.5-inch variants. Both variants of the Nokia P1 will come with AMOLED displays and will be IP68 certified, the same waterproof rating of the Samsung Galaxy S7.

The device is expected to be a flagship model and will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 processor. As for its physical design, the Nokia P1 is believed to come with a metallic housing, according to Android Headlines.

There’s also a rumored device called the Nokia D1C, a 13.8-inch Android tablet that was initially believed to be a smartphone. The device leaked last week when it went through the AnTuTu benchmarking service (via GSM Arena).

The leak revealed that the Nokia D1C’s 13.8-inch display will have a full HD 1080p screen resolution. The tablet also comes with a SIM card slot will be powered by a Snapdragon 430 chipset with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. Although the specs aren’t that impressive, at least it will be running Android Nougat.

As for the two Nokia Android smartphones coming in 2017, those remain a mystery. Nokia did confirm earlier this week that its CEO, Rajeev Suri, will be delivering a keynote presentation during Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017.

MWC 2017 is scheduled to take place between Feb. 27 and March 2. However, the company’s attendance at the event doesn’t guarantee a smartphone announcement as there’s still no indication of that happening just yet, as pointed out by PhoneArena.